


Symbites

by merelypassingtime



Category: Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Dialogue-Only, Drabble Collection, Ficlet Collection, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-15
Updated: 2019-03-15
Packaged: 2019-11-18 09:26:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18117974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/merelypassingtime/pseuds/merelypassingtime
Summary: A collection of all the shorts, drabbles, and false starts that I have posted on Tumblr.All symbrock, no trigger warnings apply.





	1. Argumentative

**Author's Note:**

> For StarryEden, who ask for one story and instead got all this.  
> Sorry. :")

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Writing dialogue is my favorite.  
> Here are all the tiny exchanges I have written for our boys.  
> Forgive the different formats, I wrote them at widely different times. :”)

(Eddie, applying aftershave)

Venom: Yes, it rubs the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again.

Eddie: What the hell, Vee?!

Venom, trying and failing to sound innocent: Oh, did I say that wrong?

Eddie: God no, you said it with eerily accuracy. When the hell did you see Silence of the Lambs.

Venom: What do you think I do all day while you are sleeping?

Eddie: Honestly, I hadn’t really thought about it. But of course you watch horror movies…

Venom: Hannibal Lecter is a smart guy. I wonder if he would be a good bondmate…

Eddie: Hey!

Venom: I am just kidding, Eddie. You are the only host for me.

 

oOoOoOo

 

**Eddie! We should get this cereal for breakfast!**

Mmm? We already got cereal, buddy.

**But this one is better.**

I thought you were kookoo for Cocoa Puffs.

**I’m not crazy!**

No, I know. I was just a commercial from when I was a kid… You know, never mind. I thought you liked the Cocoa Puffs, babe.

**I do, but this cereal is chicken, turkey, and salmon flavored.**

What? Oh, no that’s not cereal. That’s Meow Mix. It’s for cats, not people.

**Why not? It says it has 100% complete nutrition, and it will give you a glossy coat.**

No.

**But your hair could use more gloss.**

I’m not eating cat food.

**Aww, but Eddie…**

I said no, now drop it or I’m putting the tater tots back.

**Eddie!**

I mean it.

**Fine… Pussy.**

No, if I was we’d be getting the Meow Mix.

 

OoOoOoO

 

What’s this?

**I made you a Valentine, Eddie!**

Aw, thanks, love. You shouldn’t have.

**But you deserve it.**

No, I just mean Valentine’s Day is a few months away…

**Oh.**

No, no. This is great! Everyday with you is a Valentine’s Day to me.

**Oh! Good. Because we love you, Eddie.**

I love you too, and this is a lovely card. The red glitter really makes the pile of headless bodies look festive.

**And you haven’t even opened it yet!**

There’s more. Oh, wow… I didn’t know you were a poet! Let’s see:

_Red maybe for a rose_  
_But I’d prefer a tater tot_  
_Though without clothes_  
_You are way more hot_

That’s so sweet! Thank you.

**Eddie is happy!**

I am. Let’s hang this on the fridge.

**And while we are there you’ll shower me with chocolate.**

Will I now?

**Yes! That is how Valentine’s day works. You get a card and I get lots of chocolates in return.**

Is that so? I think I see what’s going on now.

**Less thinking, more chocolate.**

Yes, of course, darling.

 

oOoOoOo

 

**Eddie…**

Yeah, buddy?

**How come we never have chocolate steaks?**

Chocolate steaks?

**Yes. I think they must they be very good.**

Sorry, but have you seen chocolate steaks for sale somewhere or something?

**No, but I know steaks are from cows and so is milk.**

Yeah…

**So, they must make steaks from the same cows that make chocolate milk.**

….

**Why are you laughing, Eddie?**

….

**We are not fucking adorable! Stop thinking that.**

Oh, I’m sorry love. I was just impressed by your logic.

**Impressed enough to get me a steak? Or a whole chocolate cow.**

I’d love to, but they are really rare.

**I like steaks rare, or, even better, raw.**

No, darling, I mean they are hard to find. That’s why chocolate milk’s so damned expensive. They don’t cut up those cows for meat.

**Aww… Never?**

No, I am afraid not. But, if you’d like, we could get a regular steak and cover it in chocolate syrup.

**Really? And eat it raw?**

Of course, love. Anything for you.

 

oOoOoOo

 

Tony, giving a tour of the Avenger’s compound to Eddie: Oh and this is our, er, intern, Peter.

Eddie: Oh, great! Tony’s mentioned you several times.

Peter: Nice to meet you, Mr Brock.

Venom, appearing over Eddie’s shoulder: Hello, Spiderboy.

Peter, freaking out: An alien! Please don’t lay your eggs in me!

Venom: Oh, no. We only do that with Eddie

(Awkward silence as everyone stares at a rapidly reddening Eddie)

Eddie: He is kidding.

Venom: No I am not. Just last night-

Eddie, interrupting: Hey, love. Would you like a chocolate?

Venom: Yeess!

(Not bothering to unwrap the treat, Eddie holds it up for Venom to eat off his palm)

Tony: Yeah, so. There is that. And over this way are the individual rooms…

 

oOoOoOo

 

Eddie: We are going to have nachos for dinner!

Venom: Yay! Nachos!

Eddie: But not just regular nachos: Crazy Nachos!

Venom: Ooo! What are crazy nachos?

Eddie: Well, instead of chips, we are going to use lettuce!

Venom: Ya- wait, what?

Eddie: Yeah, crisp, green lettuce. And instead of melting the cheese over the top we are going to sprinkle a little bit of it over the top.

Venom: Um…

Eddie: With bacon bits! and shredded carrots!

Venom: I am not really sure…

Eddie: Did I mention the BACON BITS!!

Anne: Isn’t that just a sala-

Eddie: SHH! Nachos!!

Venom: Yay?

 

oOoOoOo

 

**Eddie?**

Yes, darling?

**Eddie, we don’t like this.**

I know, and I’m sorry. You’re just gonna have to live with it for a while.

**No. We look ridiculous.**

Maybe next time you decide to take my bike out on a high-speed chase, you’ll remember this and think twice.

(muttering) **It was only a little broken.**

A little?! The lady at the shop said it would take a week at the very least to put him back together! Really, we’re lucky she had this to loan us at all or we’d be walking.

**We would rather be walking.**

Well, I wouldn’t. So, you are gonna have to live with the new bike.

**This is not a bike, Eddie.**

It's… sorta a bike.

…

It’s bike adjacent.

…

Fine. It’s a moped.

**It is unacceptable.**

Why’s that, love?

**It goes too slow and it is green.**

What’s wrong with green?

**No one is intimidated by seafoam green.**

Why do people need to be intimidated?

**So they know how cool we are.**

Part of being cool is not caring if you are cool.

**Fine. Then are we going to get a nice seafoam green jacket to wear on our moped?**

Maybe we should.

**… It would bring out the green in your eyes.**

 

oOoOoO

 

Venom, proudly holding out Eddie: Look Riot! It followed me home! Can I keep it?

Riot: Ew! What is it?

Venom: I don’t know. I found it behind a dumpster, and I love it.

Riot: It looks mostly dead. It smells dead too.

Venom: It needs me! You have to let me keep it.

Riot: Absolutely not! You eat that thing right now.

Venom: No! I won’t. I’m gonna run away from home with it and take care of it forever and we are going to be so happy.

Riot, sighing: Fine. Have a nice life.

Venom, while stomping off: We will.

…and they lived happily ever after.

 

oOoOoOo

 

Bad guy: What are you?!

Venom, peeling half his face away to reveal Eddie: We are Venom.

Eddie: Sigh.

Venom: What? You usually say it with me…

Eddie: I know, I know. But do you think once in awhile we could say, “We are Eddie”?

Venom: Why would we do that?

Eddie: Well, I mean we’re in this together, right?

Venom: Always together.

Eddie: Then why do we always have to use your name when we are about to eat someone?

Bad guy: Whoa! Eat?!

Venom: Because it sounds better. Eddie is not a terrifying name.

Eddie: What does it matter if it is terrifying? It is who we are. We are Eddie as much as we are Venom.

Bad guy: Wait, go back to the part about eating me.

Venom: So, what? Do you want to hyphenate our names? “We are Venom-Eddie” just sounds bad.

Eddie: Maybe we could use a portmanteau, like Veddie or Edom.

Bad guy, edging away: I think I’m just going to go now.

Venom: No. I refuse to growl “We are Veddie.” The bad guys would laugh.

Eddie: So? What does it matter? They won’t be laughing when we bite off their heads.

Bad guy, starts backing away faster

Venom, completely obvious: Okay. We can take turns saying we are Venom and We are Eddie, but I want a byline on the articles we write.

Eddie: what?!

Bad guy, now at the corner of the alleyway, starts running

Behind him, the argument rages on…

 

oOoOoOo

 

Vee! What happened to the rest of the chocolate cake?

(silence)

I know you’re here. It’s not like you can’t hear me.

**Oh, I was not sure you were talking to me. My name is not Vee.**

No, Vee’s a nickname.

(bristling) **Like ‘parasite’?**

No, no. Nothing like that. I just call you ‘parasite’ to annoy you. Vee’s more like a special name, something that I’d call you that most people don’t that acknowledges how close we are.

**We are one. There is no closer bond.**

I know, I guess that is why I tried the nickname. If you don’t like it, I won’t use it.

**No, it is fine.**

Good.

**Does that mean I should call you E?**

Eh, no. Actually, ‘Eddie’ is already a nickname of sorts. It’s short for Edward.

**Oh, but everyone calls you that. To show our bond should I call you Edward then?**

No! I hate being called Edward. Only my father ever called me that.

**Yes, we did not like the emotions that caused at all.**

Yeah, let’s not go there.

**Agreed. Instead, I will just call you mine: My Eddie.**

Yeah, I like that.

(thrumming with happiness) **My Eddie.**

But that doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten about the chocolate cake, Vee.


	2. Small, but Fierce

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A collection of micro-fics

“…and we are not getting any ice cream.”

**But, Eddie…**

“No. We don’t need it and that is final. If you don’t like it, you can do your own stupid shopping.”

**Eddie…**

But, after more than an hour in the Walmart constantly fighting with Venom over every item in their cart, Eddie was done. He ignored the whining voice in his head, finally paying some attention to his surroundings instead, only to find the cashier was smiling at him even while her hands continued to scan the several bottles of Hershey’s Syrup that Venom had won the fight for.

The smile, genuine and filled with amused good humor, threw him for a loop. He was used to people staring, avoiding eye contact, and even glaring, but smiling was a new reaction. He couldn’t help the puzzled look he knew he gave her in return.

Smiling even wider, the lady asked, “Talking to the wife?” She nodded to the fake bluetooth headset Eddie wore as she asked it.

“Oh!” Eddie said, automatically starting to reach up to the earpiece he’d forgotten he had on. He stopped the motion halfway there, thinking it made him look guilty, and tried to pass it off as rubbing his eyes. “Er, yeah. Sort of. Yes.”

“Sounds like you guys have been married a while. It took my wife and I years to settle into bickering like that.”

“It certainly feels like forever sometimes.”

“And I bet you loved every second of it.”

“Well, yeah. It’s never dull,” Eddie said with complete honesty. In the back of his head he could feel Venom shifting, radiating happiness at the compliment.

The cashier smiled, and when she finished the transaction she handed him his receipt with a sly wink. “Have a nice evening, and good luck when you get home without the ice cream.”

Eddie winced a little as he took it, thinking about Venom spending the rest of the night sulking over their lack of frozen triple fudge brownie.

A few minutes later, as he checked out a second time with the carton of Ben and Jerry’s, the cashier didn’t even tease him about it.

Well, not much anyway.

 

oOoOoOo

 

After the guy across the hall moves out- very suddenly, and, although Eddie doesn’t ask, he thinks Venom may have had something to do with it… Gods know, the symbiote is wicked smug as they watch the man pile boxes haphazardly in an ancient van, all the while looking around like he was expecting an attack- the new neighbor caught Eddie in the hall as he was coming home one night.

After a couple minutes of small talk, they worked around to inviting him over for drinks.

When Eddie declined, the neighbor pressed, “If you’re sure. It’d be nice to get to know you guys better. I mean, I’ve never even seen your husband.”

“Husband?” Eddie asks, puzzled. “I’m not sure what you mean. I live alone.”

“Oh, sorry… I just hear you, er, well, just hear you. So, I thought you were married to someone named Vernon.”

“Vernon?”

“Yeah,” they said, looking embarrassed. “The walls are pretty thin and I hear you shouting that name a lot so I assumed…”

“Oh! Yeah! Vernon. He’s my boyfriend actually…”

**No, I think husband is more accurate.**

“Shut up.”

Looking halfway between offended and worried, his new neighbor demanded, “What?”

“Sorry. I wasn’t talk to you… But yeah. He works a lot, but we can try to stop by maybe.”

By this point the neighbor was clearly regretting the invite and rushed to say, “No pressure. I’ll just see you around.”

“Sounds, good. Nice to meet you, er…” Eddie trailed off, having already forgotten the name.

“Same. Have a nice day,” the neighbor said, not quite slamming the door in Eddie’s face.

“Well, that could have gone better.“

**They are rude. We should eat them.**

Eddie pinched the bridge of his nose, fighting down the building headache. “We can’t just eat everyone who is rude.”

**We could, if you’d let us.**

“Oh, shut up Vernon.”

 

OoOoOoO

 

Eddie considered himself a patient man, a patience he had proven many times on difficult stories and long investigations, but he still was a man of refined taste and impeccable class and therefore unwilling to compromise for less than the very best in entertainment. So, it was clear that Venom was going to have to learn to appreciate a higher level of comedy.

And, while Venom had done pretty well acclimating to human humor for a being from a completely alien culture, his tastes were still distressing low-brow, and Eddie didn’t think he could handle another evening of Will Ferrell movies.

Alas, his campaign to better educate the symbiote was meeting with less success then he could have wished.

The tiny blob of Venom’s head manifesting from Eddie’s shoulder studied the TV screen solemnly. Too solemnly.

**So, it is funny that the parrot is dead but that he hasn’t eaten it?**

“No.”

**Then, it is funny because the store own is a lying bad guy and is going to be eaten?**

“No, no one is getting eaten at all. It is supposed to be funny because… um…” Eddie floundered. British humor was not easy to explain. “Well, because the guy is so frustrated and the shopkeeper is so unhelpful that it is absurd.”

**Oh. Right,** Venom agreed dubiously.

Eddie sighed. He guessed he’d wait for another day to put in Holy Grail.

 

oOoOoOo

 

Be it age, poor genetics or, most likely, lack of adequate hydration, Eddie suffers from persistent and annoyingly dry skin.

So, about once a week he uses an excess of baby oil to keep his skin at least halfway soft. Suffering the gross, oily feeling for a few hours isn’t fun, but it is still less work then the daily moisturizing routine he probably should follow instead.

It isn’t even something he thinks about anymore, or at least it isn’t until he decides on a whim to forgo his usual unscented brand of baby oil for one with shea and cocoa butter.

As soon as he starts applying it Venom notices the difference, manifesting his head so he can lick a stripe up Eddie’s newly oiled chest and declaring him delicious. And he doesn’t stop his sampling of Eddie’s skin there…

Later, as a sleepy, sated, and extremely well moisturized Eddie is laying in bed with several black tendrils curled protectively around him, he makes a mental note to buy another bottle of the cocoa butter baby oil next time they are at the store. Or maybe two bottles.


	3. Well Begun, but Never Done

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stories I started but never found the energy to finish… Opps. :”)

_Suite_

Eddie had forgotten all about the tickets until he got the reminder email one afternoon, early in December.

He’d bought them all the way back in April, just days before he and Anne had broken up. Then the future had seemed so set, so bright, and certainly so different from the future he’d ended up with.

Not better, he’ll admit as he watches Venom on the counter of their tiny kitchen, devouring tater tots straight out of the toaster oven, but different.

Now, he’s not sure what to do with two ticket to see The Moscow Ballet’s production of The Nutcracker.

He could give them to Anne, they were always for her anyhow and it could be a sort of a peace offering, a way to tacitly acknowledge that he likes Dan and wishes them only the best. Somehow, that doesn’t feel right though. It’s too soon, the scar of their break-up too fresh to take the strain of even the most well-intentioned of gestures.

He could scalp them, he thinks. They’d been expensive and were no doubt long sold out. The profit from selling them back now would make a good dent in the astronomical food budget having an alien living inside you incurred every month. But, again, it wasn’t quite right. It lacked a sense of closure.

Finding a date flitted across his mind, but only briefly. For all that it would be one way to show the universe he had moved on, that his life was fully restarted, it was not the right way. His life was back on track, but he didn’t think it was going to be a track that included dating. It could, he knew. He was back together and emotionally stable in a way that he’d never been before in his life thanks to Venom, but that also meant that he’d lost the burning need to be in a relationship, to not be alone.

He was never alone anymore after all, he thought, smiling at the black mass now resting, still and sated, in the middle of an empty tater tot tray.

Actually, that was an idea, wasn’t it?

Would Venom like the ballet?

 

_Godfather_

The key was stiff in the lock, and for a second Eddie was afraid that he was going to have to break down the door again, but eventually, with a little jiggling and a probably unwise amount of pressure on the old key, the deadbolt disengaged. Eddie sighed in a mix of relief and happiness as he stepped into their old apartment, feeling Venom’s matching emotions washing through him.

It had been almost a year since they’d been home, and even now they were just stopping by for a night or two to check on things and make sure the property management company hadn’t tried anything with the place again. Technically, he and Venom owned the building now, thanks mostly to a lucky windfall in the 2040s, but the day to day stuff was controlled by a trust that Anne had set up for them just before she retired.

The thought of Anne twisted in his stomach, an old familiar pain. She had passed away almost a decade ago, old and grand and surrounded by her loving family. Eddie had felt out of place at her bedside, an outsider, watching her die even though he still appeared as young as he had a half century before, when they had been engaged and happily planning a life together.

Venom’s voice cut off his thought, gently turning him away from the sad memories. **Eddie, home!**

“Yes, darling,” he agreed, smiling at his beloved’s enthusiasm. “It is good to be back.”

**Back, and hungry.**

“Why am I not surprised? I don’t think there is much here, but-”

Eddie cut off mid-sentence. As he had been moving into the small kitchenette, a flash of bright red caught his eye.

Turning, he moved around the bookshelves that divided the room and into the bedroom area, only to stop and stare at the brick wall over his bed.

There in bright red spray paint were the words, “Help Uncle Eddie!” and a arrow pointing down to a thick notebook, its cover stained with splashes of rusty brown that could only be dried blood.

Eddie felt his heart miss a beat, even as Venom started to coil out and around him nervously in his own form of panic.

It seemed fate was determined to take them for a stroll down memory lane despite their wishes, because there were only a few people still living who would leave them such a message.

“Shit,” Eddie breathed, “One of Anne’s grandkids, or, god, maybe her great grandkids, is in trouble…”

 

_Addicted to Love_

The first time was genuinely an accident. Not that Venom would have hesitated to try something of the sort sooner, but the idea had never occurred to them.

They knew in theory about human reproduction and sex, but it was purely academic until one quiet evening when they materialized out of Eddie’s back as usual and curled over his shoulder to press against his neck, craning to look at the text message Eddie was typing out.

At first Venom thought the full body shutter was a result of cold or fatigue or one of the other things that regularly plagued his host’s stupidly frail human body, but that didn’t explain the accompanying surge in neurochemicals and hormones that flooded Eddie’s brain. 

It was like the adrenaline rush they got when Eddie was in danger or afraid, but sweeter, full of dopamine and phenethylamine. It tasted like the rich, dark chocolate Eddie had got him once from a fancy shop in Sausalito, only infinitely better.

A quick peek into Eddie’s mind confirmed that this wasn’t fear, but arousal. And just as Venom glimpsed Eddie’s vivid thought about how good it felt having Venom rolling against his skin and picturing that same smooth warmth pressing against other parts of his body, Eddie shoved the image away with a spike of embarrassment and shame that multiplied the hormones already singing in his blood.

It was absolutely delicious.

“Er. Did you need something Vee?” Eddie asked, his voice a bad approximation of normal.

_Yes, more of that,_ Venom thought but didn’t say. _And we are going to get it. Soon._

 

_A Pocket of Comfort_

It had not been a good day.

Somedays every new turn in his research uncovered fresh new proof of humankind’s inexhaustible ability to find new ways to victimize and marginalize one another and the sheer weight of the world’s wrongs sat heavy on Eddie’s heart.

How could he ever hope to make any difference in the face of such massed indifference? How could anyone stand against such a tide of hurt and helplessness?

When he was younger Eddie had fought pass the point of exhaustion through these black moods, self-medicating with alcohol and promises that this next story would be the one, the one that would change the world, the one that would fix everything at least long enough for him to rest… Only to come down harder when all his words didn’t even stir a ripple in the vast sea of suffering.

It had taken years and the aid of a really good therapist to make him see that always putting others first and hurting himself in the process was counterproductive.

Instead, now when it was all too much and the darkness started creeping into the edges of his life and narrowing his focus to only the worst traits humanity had to offer, he could sometimes pull away, forcing his attention inward and cultivating what his therapist had called ‘a pocket of comfort.’

Now, Eddie clicked the laptop closed, leaving his request to view the autopsy report of a young immigrant found dumped on the shoulder of I-80 half-done. He stood up for what his protesting muscles reminded him was the first time in hours and stretched while he decided what he wanted to do as his small comfort.

He had almost decided to put on his eighties playlist and workout for an hour, when he felt a stirring in the back of his mind.

**Hungry,** Venom said so predictably that Eddie had to smile.

It also gave him a better idea. “Let’s make some cookies.”

**Make cookies? But cookies come from the store.**

Eddie’s smile grew. This was going to be even better than he had thought… 


End file.
